Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

willww2002 Those who thoroughly enjoyed this little gem - they got it. They were able to put the cynical critic within themselves on hold for a while and just sit there and enjoy experiencing it. Extraordinary cast. Delightful tone and mood. Wonderful ensemble acting.And, yes, a plot line you've seen many, many times before (see other reviews or the synopsis for details; I won't rehash them here). Most of those who disliked "Gideon" called the story hackneyed, and I want to absolutely disagree with that description.The dictionary definition of "hackneyed" means something beyond overly familiar. It also means that something is boring, not worth the time you may spend in watching it, and that it doesn't give you anything worthwhile to away with you. In this case, that's just wrong.How many great westerns have been built of the same basic situation? Hell, how many great John Ford westerns cover the exact same ground over and over? How many times did Frank Capra do the same thing. (In fact, they both remade one of their earlier hits, almost line for line.) How many great heist films or chase flicks or love stories or vendetta sagas offer absolutely nothing new by way of plot or structure or style? There's always a way to offer something new to any story, and it's no great sin to try putting your own spin on even the most overcrowded category. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Frequently the end result is beyond awful, an insult to genre.With Gideon," I think it does work. This isn't going to end up on the AFI's top 100 list, but it left me feeling refreshed, happy to have had a chance to take one more quick swim in a favorite old swimming hole.And just a couple more notes. The fact that so many terrific older actors willingly lined up to participate, tells you that they didn't see this film as hackneyed. And their deeply moving performances made it clear that their participation was no quickie play-for-pay gig with them.I also notice that as the years have passed, user reviews have become far more positive, most grading out in the 9 out of 10 range. This film has worn well, a familiar characteristic shared with very good films that didn't originally find their niche.So, when it rolls around again on one of your cable channels, I highly recommend that you give it an open-minded look. It may become one of your little-known personal discoveries, or maybe just become one of your slightly guilty pleasures, but you'll surely find that it does offer something original and satisfying to take with you.

ttandb This movie is exactly what 'the pursuit of happiness' is trying to be - a movie about triumph over adversity.But this is not a movie of overcoming poverty to try and obtain a wealthy lifestyle; this is a movie about more than material things, and thank God for it.Too many films these days send out the message that if we have money then we should automatically be happy, and if we don't then it follows we should be miserable.This is about a man who, through no fault of his own, doesn't see life the way most of us do - he goes to a retirement village and shows the residents, and we the viewers as well, that living life is what should make us happy.Friendship, love and helping others is his main aim; he doesn't care what people think of him, whether they laugh at him or adore him. I found this film very uplifting and extremely heartwarming for those facts alone.However, Christopher Lambert shone in this role, his best ever in my humble opinion, and made the character of Gideon Dodds thoroughly believable. He enables the viewer, as well the elderly inmates, to see life through his eyes - and what a wonderful life it is.The other actors were excellent too, but always Lambert's character stood out and stole every scene he was in. You had to love Gideon; his innocence is what is sadly lacking in the world today - even our children grow up faster, and so lose that wide eyed guilelessness and frank honesty far too soon.The fact that Addison (Heston) reads from 'Don Quixote' towards the end of the movie says it all - yes, Gideon tilted at windmills much as Don Quixote did. But like that great fictional character he also saw all the good in people and in the world - a very special magic I think.This film is a must for anyone who still has a heart to care about others, a mind that thinks money isn't always the answer to every problem, a soul which sees beyond what another one owns and arms that long to hug someone. You will find this film a magical tale of hope, just as Gideon's elderly friends did.To anyone else; anyone who thinks that money and success, big cars and expensive houses are the answers to everything - don't bother, you'll be bored.

Jack95rr Gideon is an unusual film. Not because the plot material is that unusual (and, in a sense it is) but because it is a film that is character driven! My gosh, that's really unusual in these days of car chases, brutal murders, sexual peek-a-boos, etc. This is a film about PEOPLE! Just ordinary people doing ordinary things, except they are OLD (gee, another taboo that film makers seem to ignore -- people do get old -- it's a part of living). The fact they are old drives the story concerning a relative "youngster" named Gideon who comes to live with them in their retirement home. The simple approach that Gideon takes gives these people new hope. They no longer count the days till they die, Gideon awakens in them the joy of living again.The cast (look at it, and see a whole lot of famous old stars) is absolutely wonderful, each doing an Oscar winning performance (but they'll not get the award because this film is too simple -- no "bang for the buck.") They will all make you laugh and they will make you cry and they will make you care about the character they protray. That's the secret of this straight-forward little film. You will REALLY CARE what happens to all these people. You will know them before Gideon transforms them, and afterward, and each will come out of their encounter with Gideon a better person than they were before they met him. I just wish that they would put this film on a DVD so I could add it to my collection. But, it is so obscure it's not even offered on video. What a shame -- it is a classic film in the grand tradition! If you haven't seen it, try somehow to see it -- but that's gonna be tough because it's just not available anywhere.

jrw1 I think, no matter what anyone else states, that this movie is one of the best of each and every person in it, it takes a lot to move me and this movie did just that. It rates up there with I am Sam and Charly (1968) Cliff Robertson.Christopher Lambert who I thought could only be Highlander, shows he can be much more...